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kradogsrats · 4 months ago

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Mysterious Ways: Destiny and Prophecy in Arc 2

So... this started out as a look at the tension between fate and free will that drives Callum's arc in s7 and how it is reflected from Aaravos's side, but I kind of got distracted. That's all still in here, at least kind of, but I want to talk about some other stuff, first. Primarily this: there's a big shift in how this story approaches the concept of destiny for s6 and s7.

Outside of the very specific instance of "destiny is a book you write yourself," both arc 1 and the first half of arc 2 are much more focused on free will as breaking a cycle whose continuation is demanded by historical, cultural, situational, and emotional pressures—recognizing that it's possible to choose a better future, regardless of what you or anyone else has chosen in the past.

To introduce destiny as a force beyond those pressures—one that says certain future events are so immutable as to be foreseen years or centuries in advance—is a significant change in the playing field. What s6 and s7 add to the story is a power that could take all the hard-won choices of love and forgiveness and freedom that were built up in s1-s5, and render them powerless.

Yeah, it's... a turn. Not one that doesn't make sense, however. The narrative is also shifting away from the (largely resolved) Humanity-Xadia conflict, with the freed Aaravos emerging as an antagonist on a much greater scale (ha) than he has been operating thus far as a manipulator. In a lot of ways, s6 and s7 are meant to make the heroes feel small (ha) again, as they are caught up in a war between beings of much greater power.

All That Prophecy Rubbish: Season Six's Narrative Pivot Toward Destiny

So outside of Callum's dream in s2, the concept of destiny as an actual force that can be perceived via prophetic visions (rather than as a representation of the illusion that choice is not possible) doesn't really appear until Callum and Rayla reach the Starscraper. We immediately get hit with a prophecy that anticipates deliverance by a "chosen two"... which, after initial reluctance and skepticism, Callum and Rayla go on to fulfill.

There's not really a lot of time taken to truly examine the ramifications of the entire concept—the narrative is itself a little coy on whether Callum and Rayla actually are the chosen two (and what that might mean), but the audience is meant to follow Callum's thought process as he becomes increasingly convinced that not only can he and Rayla meet the terms of the prophecy, they are the only ones who can. He winds up being both right and wrong... they do fulfill the prophecy, but not at all in the way he had laid out.

This sudden introduction of not just destiny, but prophecy—i.e. the idea that the course of events is so immutable as to be revealed ahead of time—is immediately followed by Kosmo's time-blindness and reading of Callum's "star" as shrouded in darkness. Callum has been fatalistic about his dark magic corruption before, but this actually takes him to the brink of giving up—until/unless Kosmo intervenes by altering his own actions in order to manipulate Callum's. As a follow-up to "destiny is a book you write yourself," this is all kind of insane.

Then, to top it all off, we have the ultimate reveal of the cosmic order and its defenders, who—along with Aaravos—foresaw the end that he now seeks to ensure.

It is Only Fitting: The Nature of Prophecies as Seen in Seasons Six and Seven

Season 7 doubles down on what s6 started, opening with Kosmo reading a prophecy from the starweaver spiders' tapestries and the implication that they are a neutral source. Kosmo is certain that what he sees there is "what will be," and cannot be avoided or prevented:

Death Alive In darkness thrives They wither and writhe In Sun's true light But the Fallen One brings Eternal Night

It's a pretty bullet-point description of what happens, so the starweaver spiders are apparently pretty accurate. Not great poets, though.

Kosmo also gives Astrid some unknown number of additional prophecies before she leaves, with the caveat that (as she later repeats to Callum) they "might not all be true." We know that Kosmo is familiar with visions of future events that don't come to pass, and even deliberately averted, because he does exactly that in s6—he sees an undesirable future play out, and changes it to a more desirable one by altering his own action at a critical moment.

The most significant of these prophecies, revealed to us much later, describes the climactic events of s7:

When the hour turns black, one with dark eyes will save us all... and choose his own end.

This prophecy is more similar in format to the one about the chosen two, which the Elder prefaced as foretold by "the Timeblind." Are these two different kinds of prophecies, one a factual description of fated events—"the story of the heavens"—and the other a more interpretive possibility to be claimed or denied?

If there is an unbiased prophecy provided by the stars that details an immutable destiny, presumably the Startouch elves—the Great Ones, the stars themselves—would have access to it. But who knows? Plenty of magical creatures have powers granted by their arcanum that elves don't. Maybe the spiders are special.

We don't get the phrasing or details of the prophecy shared by Aaravos and the cosmic council, only that they have all seen it, and that it indicates humans receiving magic as the inciting event for some kind of doom.

Interestingly, it also seems to be a fate that the council felt could be averted—they appear to not know how or when it would occur, and attempted to exert whatever control would prevent it. Punitive justice of the kind they insist on for Leola is generally argued as a deterrent to others who might repeat the crime—but what is there to repeat, in this case? The events that stem from humans receiving magic presumably cannot be stopped or prevented after they begin, whether Leola lives or dies. If not, why was it even a prophecy?

Similarly, Aaravos makes what he perceives (or frames) as the sacrifice of enduring "an eternity of pain" in order to ensure that the doom they foresaw comes to pass, which suggests that he believes in the possibility that it was never really, truly 100% certain that it would happen. His vengeance is not just delivering the fate the council feared, but also them knowing that all of it was his doing, not the unknowable hand of destiny. He wants them to appreciate the irony of their cosmic order unraveling as a direct consequence of their cruelty in trying to avert that fate.

This puts him in the position of acting as an agent of destiny to bring about the prophesied future in a subversive way—setting up fulfillment of fated events in ways that further his own plans. However, I think this also gives him a reliance on the concept of destiny that then drives a lot of the tension between him and the rest of the cast around that theme. His arrogance is in believing that there is no end in which he does not eventually win—after all, everything he's pursuing is, in some way, already destined to happen.

(His downfall, naturally, is in his planned fulfillment of destiny being twisted back out of his hands in ways he doesn't expect.)

It's Not About You, Is It: When Prophecies Collide

Anyway, let's go back to Kosmo's prophesy for the climactic events of s7:

When the hour turns black, one with dark eyes will save us all... and choose his own end.

The audience, at this point primed by several episodes of Callum's agonizing, accepts (as does Callum, himself) that it refers to a final choice to end the threat of Aaravos through dark magic, the only means now available to him. As with the prophecy of the chosen two, it is then fulfilled in an unexpected manner—it's the corrupted shade of Avizandum who takes back his free will and delivers the killing bite, accepting a second death to save (at minimum) his son.

One feature that stands out about this prophecy is that it has a distinct point of view—presumably that of the living population of Xadia (which includes Kosmo), who it claims will be saved from doom. So is this a vision accessed only by Kosmo, or is it visible to everyone with the equivalent of time-blindness? What if Aaravos foresaw the same thing, or something similar?

When given Kosmo's prophecy, both the audience and Callum expect the fulfillment to be that Callum will sacrifice his life (choose his own end) after using dark magic (one with dark eyes) to successfully imprison Aaravos (save us all). Aaravos's behavior and reactions suggest that he at least knows that a dark mage will stand against him (and who would that be, besides Callum), and make a final sacrifice. Even if he does pick up on the "will save us all" aspect, it's quite vague—"us" may or may not include those currently fighting, and they could be saved from eternal night, but not from Aaravos himself. It's entirely possible that a valid fulfillment is Aaravos taking Callum as a vessel. It's not entirely clear what Aaravos would actually do with that situation, but he's willing to count it as a win.

What he's not willing to count as a win is being imprisoned again, and the only time he has a negative reaction is when it's revealed that Runaan, not Rayla, is prepared to kill Callum and prevent Aaravos from escaping the spell by taking him. It definitely seems like he's got some other information that he's drawing on, here—maybe another prophecy—that makes him confident that Rayla will be unable to kill Callum. When Runaan is removed, even though Rayla takes his place, he's not worried by Callum beginning the spell. Destiny, as far as he's concerned, is back on track.

Now, we know that the prophecy both Callum and Aaravos are focused on is only one out of some unknown number that Kosmo gave to Astrid, all of them less certain than the "Death Alive" one from the starweaver spiders. Aaravos is known for contingencies within contingencies, so if he's factoring one prophecy into his plan, he's probably factoring in several.

When Ezran and Zym appear, Aaravos goes from visibly angry—possibly cornered—back to being satisfied with the way things are progressing. He purposefully set things in motion for Ezran to arrive with the Novablade (i.e. Aanya is correct, it was a trap), because another thing he's willing to count as a win is his death taking all his enemies with him. The archdragons are reluctant to kill him, knowing that he'll return and they won't. Ezran, however, doesn't fully appreciate the level of devastation Aaravos's death will unleash—that it will kill him, Callum, and everyone else.

This could all be just garden-variety manipulation, but doesn't it sound at least a little bit like a prophecy? It even has a similar cadence to Kosmo's:

The brave king and the Dragon Prince will seal my fate... and light the world on fire.

Even more interestingly, Ezran and Zym's appearance does seal Aaravos's fate, just like one with black eyes does save them all. Because here comes Avizandum, out of nowhere with the steel chair.

Conclusions

So what's the actual point, here?

Well, choice actually winds up being a significant factor in the two major prophecies I've covered, both in their actual text—"the chosen two," "choose his own end"—and in their fulfillment. Was Kosmo's prophecy actually about Avizandum all along, even when Callum claimed it as his to fulfill? Did Callum and Rayla fulfill the prophecy at the Starscraper because they were the chosen two, or because they were the two who chose to do so? Are prophecies ever actually about anyone in particular, or are they just choices someone can make?

And with the story leaning heavily into destiny and prophecy as devices at the same time that Aaravos is getting back on track in his planned vengeance of fulfilling the prophecy of doom that made the cosmic council demand Leola's punishment... I suspect we'll see a lot more of "that prophecy rubbish," as Rayla puts it, going forward.

#the dragon prince #aaravos #callum #ezran #rayla #is in there too i guess #don't @ me to explain that aaravos's cockiness about callum is because dark callum in s7e6 was actually him in disguise okay #i am aware of that theory #kradogsmeta

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